that they know how to use it effectively have more influence on national debate they and a senator. he goes on, does anybody doubt the white house pays attention to what i write? should anybody pay attention to what this self inflated windbag hast to say? on record for saying deficits don't matter in spending on the war on tear is down. good money after bad for green batteries is not in here he wins a pulitzer prize but yet not to a cabinet position. turning down a job he was never offered doesn't that make you think twice about what he writes? maybe he has nothing to offer. i turn down the nobel prize.

consider o'reilly. i will see you january 26th. ashley: next is mony with france france. melissa: i'm melissa francis and here is what is mony tonight. the drop-dead date for. >>. >> taxpayers are wondering are you kidding aig? it is thanking america for the massive bailout but now it might join a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the u.s. government. we have the bizarre details on this one coming up. i think i found my next vacation. people across the country are storming florida for a python hunting contest. sounds great. this might be the most insane competition in america. we have the star of gnat geowild's python hunters, joins us to explain. even when ey say it's not it is always about money.

melissa: first let's take a look at the day's market headlines. stocks fell for their second straight session. investors looked cautious preparing for the start of earnings season the dow shed 55 points. speaking of earnings, alcoa kicked off the fourth quarter earnings season after the bell. it beat expectations on revenue while meeting expectations on the bottom line. its shares are climbing after hours. another tough day for boeing, wow! a fuel leak forced a japan airlines 787 to cancel takeoff and return to the gate in bo done. in that weren't bad enough, united airlines reportedly found a electrical wiring problem on one of the 787 jets. the same electrical issue caused a fire to break out on an empty 787 in boston yesterday. to our top story a debt ceiling disaster could be coming sooner than expected.

a new report by the bipartisan policy center says without congressional action the u.s. will smash into its borrowing limit as early as mid-february. are we doomed to default or will lawmakers be able to get the ball rolling and solve this crisis? i don't know. we have a money power panel to help us sort it all out. the former tennessee governor, phil bredesen, from the fix the debt committee. douglas holtz-eakin formerly of the cbo and evan bayh, former senator and fox news contributor. wow what a power panel. i hardly know where to start. phil, you think it is appalling we gotten this far. why? >> i just think play games, the political games with the faith and credit of the united states is a crazy position to be in. like playing with fireworks and playing with matches in a fireworks factory or something. i understand the need to deal with entitlements and to reduce costs on that but there are other ways of doing that.

there is the whole sequester thing coming up down the road. i just think it is crazy for the congress to be messing around with brinkmanship on this particular issue. melissa: doug, how serious is it to hit the debt ceiling? what really happens? do we suddenly default? do we stop paying certain parties? what happens? >> this is --. melissa: i'm sorry. i said that to doug real quick. >> okay. >> i mean i would say two things. first, have to point out there is lot of uncertainty in these projections. i made lots of them. many turned out to be badly wrong. that is just part of the business but we shouldn't flirt with the debt ceiling at all. to run up against the debt ceiling is to effectively send a default signal to the rest of the world. there is lot of talk you could pay some bills and not others but in effect you could pay interest and social security and things like that, but you couldn't pay the troops. you couldn't pay for roads, bridges, basic research, education. simply nothing to flirt with. you would either scare the international community to death or deprive people of basic services. we should have an agreement.

that we shouldn't do anything but raise the debt ceiling. we should have an agreement we should fix the spending problem. what we don't have agreement is how. they ought to get start on that right away. melissa: speaking how to do that, evan, you're someone in the trenches so many times and got frustrated with the process. what do you think of what's going on right now? >> i don't think much about it, melissa. shows the deep political dysfunction we have at the heart of congress right now or at the heart of our political system. my best guess what's going to happen i think both of our other guests are exactly right. at a time when the economy is weak we don't want an added element of uncertainty flirting with a default would add. god forbid if it adds even marginally our longer term borrowing costs that will cost us real money compounded 30 or 40 years. what i think is going to happen, melissa? i think they will go up to the edge and over by a little bit. i think republicans in the house probably say we will not borrow anymore money without spending cuts. we have this thing called the sequester which will cut

spending across the board except medicare, social security, medicare are excepted. we'll let both of those go into effect. mr. president, that's what you want, that is we'll have. i think markets will react pretty badly to that. it will force them to come back in few days and kick the can down the road a few months more. we might be back on this very set talking about this in april or may. >> melissa, if i could say something. melissa: go ahead, doug. >> i want to point outgoing over the debt ceiling doesn't cut spending. the fact that the treasury doesn't have the money doesn't relief them of the obligation to spend it. it is the law of the land to spend the money. melissa: hang on, guys. hang on. we have to talk one at a time. what it actually says i'm not going to extend you anymore credit until you get your books in order. why should i give you more credit to spend when you haven't figured out how you're going to live within your means? why is that wrong, doug? >> that's right. in fact the fact that the you know, your teenager overspent their credit card doesn't mean you don't pay the bill. melissa: you say i will not

raise the limit to get your act together. >> my point if you want to cut spending pass laws to cut spending. hitting debt ceiling doesn't do it. >> we have go different issues. one is the debt ceiling. the second is the sequester. doug is right, debt ceiling expiring doesn't automatically cut spending but the sequester does. cuts across the board manner, social security, medicare and medicaid are exempted. deep cuts into the military and discretionary spending will go into effect. those things will happen simultaneously and force people back into the bargaining table to come up with at least a temporary patch. melissa: solving the problem in the long run is the real problem we have. governor, how do we deal with that? this is fundamental disagreement between two groups of people one side believes the government should get larger and have a bigger role and needs more revenue to do that the other side thinks we need to shrink government. those are so diametrically opposed points of view. i don't know how even though we're at this crisis point

how do you resolve that fundamentally different point of view? >> well, look that different point of view has been going on since, you know, ham milt ton and -- hamilton and jefferson argued about these issues almost 2 1/2 centuries ago. it will not go away. whatever we agree we'll pay for it. we'll not borrow the money. we'll not do stupid things like play with the debt ceiling over that issue. just settle down. you know, this notion that somehow you're sending a signal to the administration, congress ought to be looking in the mirror. the administration is not spending anything that the congress did not appropriate. part of what is going on is they're blaming everyone but themselves and they are the people who appropriated money and made these laws. we're paying for what we've done. melissa: governor, you're a democrat. you're saying we can't spend beyond our means? i think you might get your card revoked for that because a lot of democrats right now that want to keep spending. to live within our means, means massive reform and big cuts into major programs. are you comfortable with that, governor? >> look, we have got to find

ways to stablize, in terms of entitlements, social insurance programs, i think, i'm a democrat. i think it is vitally important these programs are stable, they're properly funded. they're guaranteed to be there when people who are depending on them. which is almost every american for things like medicare and social security they be there. so me only sensible financial management and sensible governance as a democrat to make sure these things are balanced. will we have to compromise how elaborate they are to get buy-in from everybody? sure. we've got to deal with this issue of these entitlement programs. they're on a trajectory to eat us alive. melissa: senator bayh, is that realistic? >> oh, i think it is realistic, melissa. as a matter of fact the math, it is mandatory. if you look at the long-term financial obligations of the country, a large chunk of that, majority is in these entitlements. so we need to make very modest adjustments to insure in the long run they're solvent and we can make those commitments, meet those commitments to the

american people. the politics of it is very difficult. the extremes on either side-view compromise as a dirty word and punish people politically for that. only when alternative to compromise comes even worse the parties are finally forced to stable. it is not the way it ought to be and unfortunately where it is until american people stand up at voting booth insist on something better we'll likely go through with this. melissa: politics is tough but math is tough. there is big gap there. >> this has to be rooted in reality because we can not grow our way out of these obligations. they're too big. we can't tax our way out of them. they're still too big. either we're going to reform them now or they will collapse later. so they are going to change either in a bad way or a good way. they ought to get going with it. the other reality of the last 14 times we raised the debt ceiling 11 of them come with something that looks like attacking the deficit. so it is business as usual. raise the debt ceiling and do the right thing on the deficit. they have to get to it. melissa: i don't know. fantastic power panel. thanks to all three of you

for spending your time with us, really appreciate it. so here's a twist you might not have expected. we told you about aig's thank you america ad campaign for its $182 billion bailout. well now aig's board of directors is looking into whether it will join a lawsuit against uncle sam over that same bailout. it is in response to a shareholder lawsuit against the government. claiming that when it took control of aig shareholders were deprived of private property worth billions of dollars without proper compensation. some are wondering, are they serious? joining me to make sense of it is seth, founding parter in of the firm. let's get right to it. people are painting aig as the villain in all this. they aren't necessarily because the original lawsuit was brought by hank greenberg, who is no longer the ceo of the company. explain that to us. >> sure. so hank greenberg, who leads

starr international, the plaintiff who is prosecuting this derivative lawsuit now, is prosecuting a lawsuit, one was in new york. that got thrown out. now there is one left in d.c. here in federal court, for $25 billion, saying that when the company came in and saved everybody's life and everybody's jobs it did it inadequately without fair due process and adequate compensation. there is a board meeting with where starr and hank greenberg advocates the board to intervene and jump into the case and some individuals from the government saying don't do that, that's crazy. melissa: do they have a case? point that he makes as crazy as this whole thing sounds on its face the point that he makes sort of resonates that aig was used as a back door way for the company to bail out kinds of other companies because there were so many other companies that would have gone down if aig went down. that this is sort of their way of doing it and that they were also charged, you

know, unreasonable rate of return that other companies weren't interest rate. do either of those things hold water for you?. >> no. they really don't. melissa: really? >> the revolving loan, the interest rate on the loan was about 14 1/2%. melissa: right. >> the equity rate of return when they got out, their 22, 22 1/2 billion at end of the day was 12 1/2%. that does not exceed the legal interest limitation. so that is not illegal. look, this lawsuit is like suing your heart surgeon who saved your life and coming back and saying that you didn't have enough negotiating leverage on the cost of the operating room. this will legally be not only very unpopular but probably will not prevail. there really are no damages. if the shareholders were crushed into bankruptcy they would have ended up with about zero. the shareholder return last year alone was over 52%. so they saved the company. they did not harm the company and therefore unless the justice department caves in with a settlement i don't thin this case is going

anywhere. hopefully the board will say no. melissa: the board of directors who mostly came on the board after all of this happened, they do have to entertain the idea of joining this lawsuit with hank greenberg or else they could face their own lawsuit down the road for not getting involved and taking advantage of it. they do have to sit down and look at it. more likely than not they will not join in, do you think? >> i think it will be shocking if they do. i think it would not only be a public relations nightmare but antagonizing all of their regulators in washington and new york. i think hopefully they will not do that. if they did it would be a huge mistake. i don't think the lawsuit will be successful. i don't see how it legally can stand on its own legs. melissa: just from a pr point of view alone they're out there with the ads saying thank you for bailing us out. now we're helping so many americans and they're doing so much to try to repair their public image. this would trash all that, right? >> they would go from thank you, america, to we're suing you america. melissa: oh gosh. i thought you were going to say something more profane.

you were making me nervous. >> we'll keep it pg-rated. melissa: thank you. >> the new york judge already said forget it. an immediate motion to dismiss granted in new york is very unusual in litigation. d.c. case is alive. it probably won't go anywhere. the board will have a tough decision to make. hopefully they will hear it. they have a fiduciary duty to listen but hopefully they will say no. melissa: thanks so much, seth. >> you bet. melissa: turkey thumbs its nose with the use moving forward with a multibillion-dollar gas trade with iran. does this give the regime to have a life line to survive u.n. sanctions? >> not south beach. python hunting is what i will do on my vacation. a state python hunt. to stop pythons from decimating the everglades. the star of gnat geowild, says the competition goes to far. he joins us.

are you kidding, more money and pythons coming up [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start. or questions about protecting your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like to find the right attorney to help guide you along, answer any questions and offer advice. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau legalzoom helps you get personalized and affordable legal protection. in most states, a legal plan attorney is available with every personalized document to answer any questions. get started at legalzoom.com today. and now you're protected.

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u.s.-led sanctions gold exports from turkey to iran spiked to $6.5 billion in the first 11 months of 2012. that is according to new reports. turkey is using the shady practice to pay for iranian natural gas it needs for its economy despite growing u.s. protests. mike barrett is the ceo of digital solutions and he says this is just one example of how hard it is to make sanctions work. welcome back to the show, mike. you know, it seems like this is a really tough problem. you know, we want them to stop this trade but how in the world are we going to do it? >> well, that's right. sanctions are always poor rouse at some level. every time we do this there is cross-border trade. when you have an embargo you try to close down the borders as much as you can. in themodern world the fact is you can move huge amounts very quickly. $6 billion worth of gold that is very heavy but there is ways to do it. this is one of the reasons we ought to understand sanctions are not going to

be able to fully achieve the effects we're hoping they would. melissa: fully achieve, i'm not sure how well they're working at all. i mean if you look at exports of gold from turkey, we mentioned $6.5 billion basically for most of 2012. that is up from just 54 million in all of 2011. so you see an enormous jump like that. and you realize they just shift it from currency to gold. there is a pipeline that connects the two countries. the natural gas goes through it. why do we ever think we could stop it? >> we can't stop it. you can dramatically i'm pea it. the essentially the way the sanctions work in practice we essentially outlawed use of the banks. so the international banking system is taken out of the picture. what that means a lot of things happen in the shadows. until a report like this comes out you don't really know how it is that they're breaking the sanctions but you know these things are going. i want to say sanctions have apparently reduce iranian oil exports by about half. it has had a pretty

significant bite. the question is will it have enough of a bite to make them change their policy? melissa: do you believe that number. i saw that report as well. that was from the iranian oil minister saying profits they made are down 45% over the past year because of sanctions but is that just what he is reporting and what they're not selling under the table and to everyone else? >> right. so you know, the numbers are all soft but they give you kind of an order of magnitude sense. even if he says 40, there is a bunch of black oil sales going on the real number is 30%. at the end of the day that is still a significant chunk. the thing i was interested in today dng a little research of this how many long term invests are going on. they're building substantial infrastructure for oil and petroleum and liquid natural gas throughout iran. that means the international community is making some long term bets on iran. melissa: so what does that tell you? that makes me feel we're relatively alone in trying to stop them from having this nuclear weapon and it is not going to work out. >> sure. it's not that we're alone.

we have the western country together and agreed on but you see that the exports to china are still very high. japan, south korea, india. and of that, you know, that list, frankly, south korea and japan are very close u.s. allies. so the fact we haven't put pressure on them to adhere to the sanctiins as well shows you, while we're serious about it, we haven't put that final twist on it. it will be interesting to see as, you know, as war becomes more and more likely whether or not we actually make the sanctions totally bulletproof. melissa: what is the bottom line in your opinion? are we having an impact on slowing them down? >> i think we're slowing them down but there is no way it would achieve what we hope it would achieve. melissa: yeah. >> the administration is doing what they're doing well but you think they're doing the wrong course of action. at the end of the day religious sentiment and nationalism will trump financial interests in a country like iran. melissa: mike, thanks so much. >> thank you, melissa. melissa: time for today's fuel gauge report. it seems like it is a mistake but apparently it is not. the u.s. state department is wishing president hugo

chavez a quote, speedy recovery from his latest bought with cancer. he has been in poor health since undergoing cancer surgery in cuba last month. iraq's oil crisis intensifying. kurdistan is exporting crude to global markets through turkey without permission from iraq's central government. officials in baghdad called the exports illegal. an oil payment dispute broke out between the two governments in december. mastercard said its u.s. gasoline demand slipped to the lowest level since it began tracking data in july of 2004. that is so interesting. drivers purchased $7.82 million barrels of gas last week, down nearly 3% year-over-year. are we carpooling? is the economy bad? all questions. all right. going, going, gone. super bowl tv ad slots are sold out!, sold out, selling for a record $4 million a pop. what should companies do to make sure their commercials

aren't a total bust? a top marketing expert gives us his insight next. plus florida prepares for a huge python hunting contest, i can't wait, in the everglades. i'm putting my money on this guy to win it all. >> oh, ya. melissa: yeah. hi ya. melissa: that was best "the simpsons" ever, i love that one. gnat gee oy's -- nat geo's python hunter says why people are flocking to one of the biggest competitions in america. do you ever have too much money or pythons? nfc, afc, offensive lineman,

defensive tackles, quarterbacks and cornerbacks are all working with united way.

for a million little reasons. the kids of our communities. to ensure their academic success, all the way to graduation day. it takes about 12 years to create a graduate. it takes the same time to create a dropout. and the difference between a kid becoming one or the other could be professional athlete. or it could be you. studies show, the earlier we get to kids, the better their chances. so become a united way volunteer reader, tutor or mentor. make a difference in the life of a child. for the life of that child. give. advocate. volunteer. live. united. join your favorite nfl players. take the pledge. go to unitedway.org.

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melissa: prepare for an advertising blitz this year's super bowl. companies are shelling out top dollar for a chance to run an ad during the big game. the price of a 30 second commercial hit a record high of $4 million. that is whopping $133,000 a second. we love math here. but not all of the ads come out winners. here is one last year that ranks up there as one of the worst. ♪ . >> that's my confidence. it has been coming out of me ever since i went on cars.com. i compared gas mileage using their side by side comparison tool. this one would be great. ♪ . >> i'll get the key. melissa: what were they thinking? how do you avoid a multimillion-dollar mishap like that one? we have ricker is rohn,

branding expert and new york yankees public relations manager. am i alone? i thought that was really painful. >> you're not alone because the ad index, "usa today"'s super bowl commercial index rated that very low, but the funny thing about super bowl commercials, one year later you just showed it again. they got a lies little bump they weren't expecting. >> i guess but do you think people rushed to the site to buy the product as a result? that is what you're really going for. >> that is confusing and that's why you paid ad agencies and going with a different ad agency this year. you will see something very different from cars.com this year. melissa: they're getting back in the game? >> they're back in. melissa: do we have any idea what kind of ad they're doing? is there any buzz around it? >> i hear it will be more what you get from the service, which was very unclear. melissa: some information included which is generally a good idea when you're decent advertising. >> will not leave your house

humming that song. melissa: godaddy, another one. the cloud spot was one last year. i don't know if we have video. >> really bad but go daddy is back again with two ads, bringing back danica patrick who was the star of that ad but year adding bar raphael to the mix. melissa: wow! why was it not a winner last year? >> did you see it? melissa: yeah. >> danica patrick is very stiff. the message what do you get from go daddy.com from the ad? it didn't play well with the audience. it was not memorable. for the right reasons. melissa: don't they always do half naked women? is that their formula? no one knows what go daddy is and this is their standard thing? >> it may be entertaining and titillating but won't get you to go to the site. it didn't initiate what they need to initiate. in today's world you can't reinforce your brand like the old budweiser ads like the old clydesdales.

i'm secure with my budweiser. melissa: will they do that again? >> i think budweiser is going in completely different direction. they have four to six spots and might throw in a branding one. their market share is down. they partnered with jay-z for their ad and they're actually going to sell one of their smaller brands, black crown, a craft beer, higher alcohol content to a more urban hip-hop audience. melissa: do you think that will work? >> i think it is very risky at the super bowl but, you know, it is all about the risk. melissa: these ads at $4 million a pop. is that a good idea? >> remember. they have a multiyear. they have got the they're also paying for brand exclusivity but they have got multiyear. there is ways that number comes down. remember one other thing, melissa. $4 million to. cbs for the ad. that doesn't take into cost talent for the ad. melissa: right. >> doesn't take you agency fees, production fees. some people that don'tse get away with not using major talent are the real

winners. melissa: is it worth it? >> absolutely. melissa: it is? >> absolutely worth it. melissa: why? >> because it is the super bowl. all eyes are on it. even if you have a bad ad, now bad ad can set your campaign off, much larger campaign off to a very bad start but, you know --. melissa: got a lot of eyes. >> got a lot of eyes. melissa: years from now what will people think of us? >> if he this watch super bowl ads and nothing else? that man love beer and are basically boobs and animals can do incredible things and women are gorgeous. melissa: two out of three ain't bad. i will heat you figure out witch. i found my dream vacation. python hunting contest in is kicking off. danger and health risk bee damned. we have the star of "nat geo wild"'s "python hunters", says the competition taking things way too far.

does he have a snake here? of course. he has a live snake. pyles of money coming up straight ahead. ♪ . supply costs... down... ...and down. just use your maxperks card and get a case of x-9 paper for only 1-cent after maxperks rewards. find thousands of big deals now... ...at officemax.

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melissa: get your hunting gear ready. the hunt for burmese pythons is on! that's right.

participants from all over the country are invited down to florida to compete in a fish and wildlife conservation commission's first ever python challenge. the hunter that bags the biggest burmese wins $1,000. whoever snags the most snakes wins 1500. i don't know if that is really worth it. the snakes are pretty big. nynex guest says the they are not as bad as you think and he has the proof. greg is the star of "python hunters" and runs his own python breeding facility. thanks for being here. looks like you brought a friend with you. >> yes, i did. melissa: who is that and is he dangerous? >> this is actually a hybrid. this is burmese python, red tick lated python cross. we heard rumors about super snakes with hybridization. what happens is dwarfs the size of animals. these guys only get about 13 feet long where both the parents will get over 20. melissa: wow! i will not ask you about the fact that you have a breeding facility.

my mind sounds like you may be adding to the problem florida is having but the wildlife foundation of florida, they're holding a python challenge. why now? what is the reason for this >> the big thing is education. we have a problem with burmese pythons in the everglades but they're definitely not a public safety issue. this is ecological issue we're looking at right now. melissa: are people invited, seems like they're invite to go in and kill the snakes. is that humane? is that what they're doing? should the state be sponsoring that? >> well, there's two different groups of individuals. i works, initially we were all dubbed "python hunters". that is it where the show came from. i'm one of the agents that collects the animals alive and we collect data on these animals to try to find out how many are out there, where are the highest populations and what is their reproduction in the wild. and we check gut content as

well to see what these animals are eating out there in the everglades. then your second group of individuals are your licensed game hunters and what they have done since the burmese poo thethon is not -- python is not native to florida, they made it legal for game hunters when game hunting to take the pythons as well as other game out there. melissa: by take them, what do you mean? you can't transport these animals live, right? >> those of us that are agents that have the proper licensing to do so can. but as far as game hunting, the pythons need to be killed or euthanized like other game. so if they're out there during bow season, they can't go out there with a handgun and shoot the python at that point. so, whatever season they're in, is how the python can be taken. it gets risky when you're dealing with somebody not used to handling one of these pythons to actually capture it and try and kill the animal with a knife that is not something we recommend to people that are not experienced handling these animals.

melissa: in a shocking turn of events pita is very upset about this. peta. allowing hunters to decapitate pythons who are alive and writh in agony for an hour after their heads are cut off is despickably cruel s that what happens? people are being invited to the area to get rid of the snakes because they are causing environmental damage. are we wrong thinking that is what is going on here? >> no. unfortunately that is the point to remove the animals. it is a catch-22 situation. that is one of the things that is difficult for me as an mall lover to deal with these animals. on the flipside, when pita says this animal is going to be living in pain, reptiles, their system works a lot different than mammals. whether you're at an alligator farm or any place they butcher reptiles the muscle and nerve endings twitch much longer than in mammals. to say the animal is alive. once the animal is decapitated it is no longer feeling any pain.

we use, when, unfortunately when we do have to euthanize these animals we use humane techniques that the veterinary association backs and for the most part that is, you know, separating the skull from the spinal column and pithing the brain at that point. melissa: we're watching video of you right now wrestling these enormous snakes. strikes me it is incredibly dangerous to invite people down here to participate in this contest to get involved. i'm joking about going down there with my kids. i don't think i will be doing that. isn't this dangerous? >> well the other thing that a lot of people have missed, not anybody can get into this contest. we have 50 plus licensed agents that are trained and have gone through training with these pythons and they're allowed to take up to five individuals with them. so every average day people can't sign up, go into the everglades and put their hands on a live burmese python. melissa: yeah. i think i will skip it

anyway. i don't think i will sign up. greg, thanks so much for coming on. very cool stuff. >> you're welcome. melissa: good luck to you. here is our question of the day. would you go on a python hunting contest in florida for a $1500 grand prize? i think it has to be more money, right? we want to hear what you think. like us on facebook.com/melissa francis fox or follow me on twitter at melissaafrancis. if you're looking for the fresh start to your career, listen up. 2013 worst cities to find a job. one of the top specialists in career bliss explains where they are and why. so get ready. that is coming up next. at the end of the day it is all about happiness, not money. ♪ . ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second...

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♪ . melissa: in this economy it is tough to find a job wherever you live but according to a new study from career bliss, there are other factors to consider when determining what market is the most difficult to find a job. the report takes a look at unemployment trend as well as overall employee

happiness, and salary, to compile a list that is the best and worst cities in the country to get a gig. so did your city make the bottom of the list? joining me now, career bliss's chief happiness officer. heidi, welcome to the show. chief happiness officer. do a lot of companies have that and does it pay well? >> i think not many companies have that but i started out as ceo and i realized our focus should be to make people happy so i became chief happiness officer. melissa: are you more profitable when your employees are happy? do you have data to back it up? >> it is definitely the case because your turnover is lower. you have to do less training. the happier you can make your employees the better your company can do. melissa: talk to me about the criteria you look at. i'm joking about it. you have 10 key factors that make a lot of sense. work life balance. one's relationship with his or her boss and coy workers. job resources. compensation. money is in there and job control over the work performed on a daily basis.

what does that last one mean? the kind of work i do? >> the kind of work and how much micromanagement happens to your upper management. do they trust you to do your best work or constantly monitoring your best work? can you be creative at work? most companies with unhappy employees don't allow their employees to be creative at all. melissa: let's get to the list, going down the worst list, number five from the bottom, allentown. four was wichita. three was buffalo. what do you find in these cities that made them terrible places to be and work? >> what is interesting we found there's a lot of factors. we don't just look at salary. we look at, you know, are they truly happy with the management? how are they treated at work? we also notice people feel less happy if the weather is typically poor. more sunshine, the more happy they are even at work and of course in life as well. but we found overall these cities are not fostering a good work-life balance. melissa: i was shocked to see boulder, colorado, at

the top of that list because i think of boulder as a place where people are outdoorscy and healthy and positive. seems like some of the other ones maybe made sense, i don't want to trash talk anyone's city, i have to be really careful here. but boulder, was that surprising to you? we're looking at beautiful scenes right now. how could people be miserable in boulder? >> that is great question. we drilled down on the data because a lot of people want to move to boulder. when they get there there is just not enough jobs for them. they become unhappy because they're either unemployed or underemployed. so for the chances of getting a great new job in boulder where you're happy in your career is growing is very slim. melissa: that makes sense. >> mountain biking, a little better. melissa: the best city on your survey was los angeles. i was shocked about that. i'm from l.a. the traffic is terrible. i mean it's, how could los angeles be the best city to find a job? >> in fact if you want to move your show from new york to l.a. we're ready to have

you. because it is the best city. melissa: okay. >> but we, come on down. so what we found is that really unemployment is heading down and so even though there is a bit more taxes now in california people feel really happy at work. there is lot of stuff for young professionals to do after work. while they're working they feel empowered. they get to be creative. their salaries are good. it is really a boom time now for l.a.. melissa: all right. heidi, thanks for coming on. good stuff. >> thank you so much. take care. melissa: last night's bcs national championship game was so boring that the announcers resorted to just fawning all over alabama quarterback's girlfriend. how things got a little too close for comfort and how espn is responding to the ridicule from viewers. that is coming up next. you can never have too much money or, i guess hot quarterback girlfriends, i don't know.

♪ melissa: it is time and time for a little fun with spare change. very own greek god, adam shapiro . all right. first off, everyone has been

talking about this today. last night's ccs championship game was the total blow up. last night's bcs game with a turning the conversation to something much more exciting, the girlfriend of alabama quarterback. take a listen to this. >> you see that lovely lady. she also, ms. alabama, and that that is miss alabama. she is also a.j. mccarron's girlfriend. >> a.j. mccarron is doing some >> if you are a youngster at alabama, start getting the football and throwing it around the backyard. melissa: yap. a short time ago espn actually apologized for the comments following the criticism. what do you guys? viewers. then it seemed like he is moving on to the mother and it was really uncomfortable.

>> this girl, katherine webb is ridiculously beautiful. she is backwardness. however, she has some issues. [talking over each other] melissa: i knew that we would have to have the bathing suit shot there. >> to go on and on about that, i think that they went a little too far. [laughter] >> but it started getting creepy. kind of like, a grandfather telling you about his first time in a little bit more than you need to hear. here is a little secret. we were these little earpieces so that people can tell us when on. wherever the espn producers. >> the game was such a blowout a great shot of the gorgeous girl.

to some commentary. we have all been there. melissa: we have all been there when you're trying to fill in gaps and there's nothing going on. to chatting with yourself and trying to get it done. melissa: exactly. all right. moving on to some more acti from another beauty on the b.c. as championship game, this time on twitter. this happens to the jets every week. i don't know. what do you think? >> i don't know. and i am in long-suffering jets fan, so i kind of know where she is coming from. the twist on this is that the gorgeous keep up in had dated those quarterbacks. she was throwing a little bit. melissa: shame. >> cs 21 yes? is she even 21 years? she knows how to handle herself. payback, and not going to say the word.